


Kiss Under the Mistletoe

by owltype



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Christmas Fluff, Established Relationship, M/M, Mistletoe, bad attempts at humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 03:53:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9054259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owltype/pseuds/owltype
Summary: Tony is mouthing-off, so Steve kisses him to shut him up.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for my BFF, who wanted Christmas fluff. Actually, her request went something like this:
> 
>  **Me:** DO YOU HAVE IDEAS FOR CHRISTMAS FLUFF  
>  **Katie:** I saw a tumblr post once about which person is all pissed off trying to untangle Christmas lights and which person thinks it's oddly fun. And untangling Christmas lights that somehow turns into making out under mistletoe sounds cute af  
>  **Me:** yeah it does  
>  **Katie:** I feel like tony would be grumping because he's a goddamn genius he builds robots and shit why the hell are Christmas lights this damn difficult meanwhile Steve is shaking his head at what a grump tony is and reminiscing about some postcard picturesque Christmas from the 1920s  
>  **Me:** omg this is cute i should write this  
>  **Katie:** And then that somehow makes tony more irritable and Steve starts playfully making fun of him and suddenly mistletoe and they shut each other up by kissing.  
>  **Me:** SUDDENLY MISTLETOE  
>  **Katie:** XD yes  
>  **Me:** MAGIC MISTLETOE  
>  **Katie:** Lol well I was thinking more that one of them suddenly notices it or procures it from somewhere  
>  Probably Steve  
> And he uses it as an excuse to kiss tony to make him stfu  
>  **Me:** Daaawwww  
>  **Katie:** Lmao LOOK AT ME HELPNG WITH FLUFFY FIC  
>  **Me:** FRIDAY makes hologram mistletoe  
>  **Katie:** O MG YES PERF  
>  **Me:** Or JARVIS  
>  **Katie:** aHHHHHH WRITE THIS FIC NOW  
>  **Me:** I HAVE OTHERS TO WRITE  
>  BUT I WILL WRITE BEFORE CHRISTMAS  
>  **Katie:** BUT I WANT IT NOW  
>  ITS MY FANFIC AND I NEED IT NOW

Tony turns to give Steve a murderous glare. The effect is somewhat deadened by the rainbow glow of fairy lights haloing Tony’s dark hair, and Steve laughs harder, tears springing to his eyes and a stitch growing in his side.

“You’re not helping,” Tony seethes. He approaches Steve and jabs him in the chest. “Stop it. Where’s the off button on this thing?”

Steve holds his hands up in the universal sign of innocence. “Sorry, I’m sorry,” he gasps. “You’re just so ridiculous.”

Tony huffs. “ _You’re_ ridiculous,” he says petulantly. He kicks the bundled lights on the floor and glares at those, too. “These are ridiculous.”

“They’re just lights, Tony,” Steve points out, still chuckling. “You’ve taken on alien hordes, but lights are too much for you?”

“That’s it. You’re not my friend anymore,” Tony grouses and turns away from Steve, giving him the cold shoulder. Tony collapses to the floor amidst the jumbled lights and begins to tug at one halfheartedly, his shoulders heaving with a great sigh. “I’m all alone in this world.”

Steve rolls his eyes. “Much drama. Very woe.”

Tony punches Steve lightly in the ankle. “Stop reading Internet memes. It’s weird.”

Steve falls to sit next to Tony, pushing aside some of the lights to make room for himself. “ _You’re_ weird,” he says, echoing Tony’s earlier sentiment.

“And you like me anyway,” Tony says matter-of-factly.

“Yes, dear,” Steve agrees, patting Tony on the head affectionately. They fall into a companionable silence, and Steve watches Tony’s hands for a while, admiring the way Tony’s deft fingers slowly unravel the kinks and knots that formed in the cords over the months of sitting unused in boxes. As Tony works, Steve thinks about all the grandeur around him—the tall tree standing in the corner and the dozens of presents underneath it, as well as the other trimmings and trappings of a golden Christmas--and how different it is from the Christmases he knew as a boy. They didn’t have much, he and his mom, but she had always tried her hardest to make the holiday season special. Suddenly, he misses her with a dull, sad nostalgia.

“My mom would have adored these little lights,” Steve says into the silence, fingering one of the small lightbulbs thoughtfully. Tony doesn’t respond, but Steve knows he’s listening by the way his motions slow a little, and the way he leans closer to Steve. “She loved Christmas.”

“I bet yours were picturesque.” Tony grunts as he pulls one particularly stubborn tangle free, the lights clinking against each other at the abuse. “All wrapped up in a pretty, vintage bow.”

Steve snorts. “As if. I grew up in Brooklyn, not at the North Pole.”

“Touché,” Tony says with a laugh.

“Still,” Steve says on a sigh, “there was something magical about Brooklyn around Christmas. Everyone seemed…cheerier. Not so much yelling.”

“I could yell at you if you want,” Tony offers, turning to give Steve a little smile. “Yelling was a staple at my Christmases.”

Steve frowns. “That doesn’t sound like much fun.”

Tony shrugs and waves Steve’s concern away. “Yeah, well.”

The silence now is uncomfortable, awkward. It always happens after Tony brings up Howard. Clearly, there’s a lot of history there, but Steve isn’t privy to it. All he knows is that the relationship between Tony and Howard was strained at its best and explosive at its worst. He wishes there was something he could say, but until Tony trusts him enough to open up about his past, Steve doesn’t want to say anything and run the risk of ruining the camaraderie that has grown between them.

A triumphant yell from Tony startles Steve out of his reverie. He turns to look at Tony holding up one untangled string of lights like it’s the crowning achievement of his legacy.

“Great,” Steve says, slow-clapping. “One string down, only a dozen more to go.”

Tony deflates. “Damn you, Rogers,” he whines. “You're ruining everything.”

Steve salutes. “I live to serve.”

Tony glares at him. “I’d be mad at you if that wasn’t so hot. I always did love a man in uniform.”

Steve drops his hand to his side and looks at Tony mock-seriously. “Do I need to be concerned about you and Colonel Rhodes?”

Tony tries to punch him in the shoulder but Steve catches his fist and uses it to pull Tony in closer. Tony struggles against him, his other hand scrabbling at Steve’s chest for some kind of leverage, but Steve uses his greater strength to pin Tony against him.

“Let me go, you brute,” Tony growls, gnawing on Steve’s shoulder and trying to lick into the shell of his ear, something he knows makes Steve all squirmy.

“Are you going to play nice?” Steve asks lightly, trying not to laugh at Tony’s ineffective attempts to escape. Sometimes, being a super-soldier is fun.

“That’s awfully high-handed, Mr. I-can-subdue-you-with-the-strength-in-my-pinky-alone. Why don’t _you_ play nice, you--”

Steve leans down and kisses Tony lightly, and Tony’s tirade disappears into a quiet moan and he clings to Steve, no longer trying to get away but suddenly desperate to get closer. Steve deepens the kiss, licking into Tony’s mouth and nibbling teasingly at his lower lip. They kiss until they can’t breathe and separate slowly, both reticent to end the moment.

“What—what was that for?” Tony’s breathless, his chest heaving, his cheeks flushed a pretty pink.

Steve points ceiling-ward where a holographic sprig of mistletoe dangles above their heads. “Custom practically demands it.”

“JARVIS, you dirty-birdie,” Tony says with a laugh and leans back in to pick up where he and Steve left off.


End file.
